WASHINGTON — The man accused of killing nine people in a historically black church in South Carolina last month was able to buy the gun used in the attack because of a breakdown in the federal gun background check system, the F.B.I. said Friday.
Despite having previously admitted to drug possession, the man, Dylann Roof, 21, was allowed to buy the .45-caliber handgun because of mistakes by F.B.I. agents, a failure by local prosecutors to respond to a bureau request for more information about his case, and a weakness in federal gun laws.
“We are all sick this happened,” said James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director. “We wish we could turn back time. From this vantage point, everything seems obvious.”
Source: Background Check Flaw Let Dylann Roof Buy Gun, F.B.I. Says – The New York Times
And right after the heels of this “admission” comes this from Mayor Bloomberg’s Gun Control group:
See? It was not the FBI per se or the local prosecutors or the asshole shooter Dylann Roof or the Confederate flag: It Was The Eeeeevil NRA!
Be ready, this means they will want to screw up with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System using Charleston as an excuse. Their target will be finally to impose Universal Background Checks across the land.
PS: Bob Owens reminds you that the FBI Director is more than willing to play games (read “destroy”) with citizen’s Constitutional rights for political purposes.
PS 2: Bob chimes away via Facebook.
Everytown is blaming the 3 day rule… even though Roof didn’t purchase the gun until five days later. SCOTUS determined in 1997 that a 5 days wait was unconstitutional.
Oops!
Can we get the name or a link to the SCOTUS 5 day wait is unconstitutional ruling. I’ve heard of it, but can’t remember the case name. Thanks.
Miguel,
I want to thank you for such a great blog. I recently discovered Gun-Free Zone and now I depend on your daily updates for the latest news. I’ve been looking at the older posts quite a bit, and there is a lot of good stuff here. Thank you for such a great blog, and for the hours you spend to help all of us out here in the hinterlands. By the way, I think I’ll sign up with Florida Carry, even though I no longer live there. Right now, I’m NRA Life, VSSA, and VCDL.
And, to all y’all who, for whatever reason, won’t join the NRA, shame on you! I remember back in 1987, they plugged the hole in the dyke when nobody else was paying attention. We would not have this overwhelming number of shall-issue states were it not for the NRA. Why do you think the crazies hate us so much? Join the NRA. If you can’t afford 35 bucks a year, you must not shoot very much, anyway…
True story; Back when I had a walk in store, a guy came in and wanted to buy a AR-15. We did the paperwork and they put the sale on a 3 day hold. Well, if you don’t hear back from the FBI in 3 days, the sale proceeds like normal. So it did. After 3 days he picked up the gun, paid me and all was well with the world. Three months later I get a call from the FBI tracing center. The gun in question was the AR that we waited 3 days to transfer. They asked me the disposition of the sale, to which I replied, we transferred the gun after the 3 day wait just like the law says. They told me OK, they would send someone out to see the customer. I don’t know what ever happened, but I never saw the customer again and the ATF and FBI guys aren’t saying.
The FBI has 88 days to continue investigations on delayed transactions (the record of the background check is purged at 88 days), if they find that the person was prohibited, they contact the FFL to see if the firearm was transferred. If the transfer took place, the FBI forwards a firearm retrieval referral to the ATF. There were 2500 such referrals in 2014.
If you believe the record of the background check is really “purged” after 88 days, well, I have a bridge to sell you. Cheap.
Law or no law. Laws are for the little people, not our betters in government . . . .
They way I understood it: in the ‘instant’ background check one was either positively identified as a prohibited person in the database or one was not and the purpose of the 3-day rule for the odd chance that system may be down.
As stated above, they may take months to follow-up on a 3-day hold – this suggests that they are taking information / keeping records / yellow-flags on people who are not positively identified as a prohibited person.
I was not aware that the FBI was allowed to keep a shiite-list of people who might become prohibited in the future. This might be simple as trolling arrest reports or taking anon tips.
It was not ruled unconstitutional in 1997. What was ruled unconstitutional was forcing the states the conduct background checks. The case was Printz v. US, and it was about commandeering, not the Second Amendment. The Brady Act has always mandated a three day waiting period. Originally, the Brady folks wanted 7. Three was a compromise.
“[T]he law allows sales to proceed after three business days have passed after the check begins — even if background check operators have not confirmed the buyer is legally allowed to have guns.“
[Emphasis added]
That’s because as designed, NICS is not intended to confirm a potential buyer is allowed to have guns, but to definitively deny a potential buyer who is not allowed to have guns. Absent a confirmation either way (read: lacking definitive evidence of prohibited status), the sale is allowed to proceed.
In other words, presumed innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around.
There’s a subtle difference between its intended use, and the use Everytown would put it to.